In many different enterprises, multiple applications and data sources exist which creates challenges in reconciling and managing a unified view of a data entity across an enterprise. Master data represents the common or shared entities to the transactions that record the operations of the enterprise across the various applications and data storages. Although the list is non-exhaustive, examples of entities include organizations, enterprises, companies, customers, individuals, services, accounts, products, etc. When an enterprise attempts data integration or data sharing, a fundamental problem with master data is how it is identified by the applications and data sources, as well the users (e.g., business users) trying to access this data.
A conventional approach taken by many data integration solution providers to solve the data integration and sharing problem is to standardize using a single unifying identifier that uniquely identifies an entity across all source systems. However, although it appears practical at a high level, this approach is not without its share of problems. For instance, the approach requires significant changes to the existing systems and the underlying business processes to adhere to and accommodate the unifying identifier. Any such pervasive changes across an enterprise come at a significant financial cost and run the risk of breaking the existing systems, including the underlying business processes.
Further, any subsequent changes to a data model require extensive customization and coding across many of the existing applications and data storages. Such an approach to standardize may also lead to an enterprise losing data. For example, some enterprises have “legacy” data silos, with many different applications built on top of them, that are resistant to change and cannot easily be standardized.
Moreover, such pervasive changes across an enterprise ignore the business users of the various applications and data sources as it forces the designated identifier on those business users. For instance, such change may require the business users to start utilizing an identifier that is not specific for their business needs. For the users, it is easier for them to remember and utilize the identifiers they use in a business context (e.g., driver's license number, Dun & Bradstreet number, tax identification number), rather than an identifier implemented during the integration process.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a data integration system that can easily integrate data from several disparate sources. Also, there is a need in the art for a data management system that can flexibly manage data.